We cannot contemplate what it is like to depart from inverted views and dreams. Rather, we must contemplate our afflictions directly. It is similar to contemplating obstructions and fears. When you experience deep afflictions, such as greed or anger, and are suffering, ask yourself, “Am I experiencing confusion?” What is causing you to have such strong vexation and suffering? It is time to reflect on your thoughts, moods, and intentions, to reflect on the four inverted views. Allow the steady clarity of mind to naturally heal your agitation.

We can also begin by reflecting on whether or not we are dreaming. Sometimes we will not know until everything has already fallen apart. Still, that is a good start; seeing afterward that it was all a dream will lessen your vexation. With practice, you will know you are dreaming in the midst of a dream. That is better because, whether the dream is painful or pleasurable, you will realize it is only a dream, and not become attached to it. That is deep practice. Finally, you will awaken altogether from the dream of life, the dream of the self, the dream of ignorance. That is liberation.

In the line “they (bodhisattvas) reach the ultimate nirvana,” we are speaking of the nirvana of the Mahayana path. There are three kinds of nirvana, two of which are not ultimate nirvana. The first is the nirvana of non-Buddhist paths. The second is the nirvana of arhats whose goal of practice is self-liberation. The third is the ultimate nirvana of the Mahayana path.

There is no specific non-Buddhist nirvana. Generally, non-Buddhist practitioners mistake unity of self with a god as ultimate nirvana. They may believe it is the ultimate state and that they will no longer have afflictions or continue on the wheel of samsara. This is considered the nirvana of the non-Buddhist path. God, in one case, may refer to a condition when a practitioner feels unified with a personal, anthropomorphic god. The other case is when a practitioner feels unified with everything, the highest and the ultimate; this can be called pantheism. Such a practitioner feels he or she has returned to that purest or highest of states, a kind of universal embodiment. It can also be called the Godhead.